Eight-line Poems

John Cage

John Cage

“Begin at the beginning,” the king said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland

“Begin anywhere,” said John Cage
as well he might,
the man with a blank page
and ambient sounds in the night.

I wonder why he bothered at all
an opening to imply,
since random sounds he knew would fall
in the silence he supplied.


Line count: 8
Rhymed abab
For Express It In Eight, 04.24.23
Prompt: “Begin anywhere.” – John Cage.